Bitcoin Price Returns to $70K Despite Rising Middle East Tensions: Your Weekly Crypto Summary

This week saw a major investment in OKX, Kraken received a Master Fed account, while Justin Sun settled with the SEC for $10 million.

This time, last Friday, tensions in the Middle East region increased, but only a few people could have predicted how the world would change in a few hours. On Saturday morning, Israel and the US joined forces to launch military operations against Iran, which began with airstrikes.

Iran retaliated and continues to do so, even though its supreme leader was killed on the first day of the attacks. Since then, the issue has escalated rapidly, and nearly a dozen countries are already directly involved, while virtually every nation has felt the consequences in one way or another, especially after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the rise in electricity prices.

In the midst of this massive geopolitical tension that started over the weekend for every other financial market except crypto, the price of Bitcoin remained stable overall. Well, that was after the first shock on Saturday, when it dropped from $4,000 to $63,000. It recovered quickly, recovering all losses and even hitting new local highs during the work week.

While there is no indication that this battle could end anytime soon, BTC rallied from its low of $11,000 on Saturday to reach $74,000 on Wednesday. However, it faced immediate rejection there and is now trading around $70,000. This is still about 5.5% higher than last week’s price level, which is quite surprising given the growing uncertainty.

Only a handful of larger alt-caps, including HYPE, NEAR, SKY and MNT, did better during that time. In contrast, ADA, CC, BCH, SHIB, WLFI and DOT are in the red.

Market data

Market price: $2.46T | 24H Volume: $108 Billion | BTC Dominance: 56.9%

BTC: $70,000 (+5.6%) | ETH: $2,050 (+4.4%) | XRP: $1.38 (+1.4%)

You may also like:

This week’s crypto headlines you can’t miss

Kraken just became the first crypto company with a Master Fed account – Why it matters. The US Veterans Exchange has provided access to the US Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas’ restricted principal account. Kraken Financial can now connect directly to major Fed payment systems, bypassing some of the intermediaries that exist when users attempt to deposit/withdraw.

Kazakhstan May Sell Gold to $350 Million Crypto Fund: Report. The head of the country’s central bank said that they plan to invest up to 350 million dollars in cryptocurrencies or high-tech companies related to this field. They want to use some of their current investments, such as gold and currency reserves, for this.

NYSE’s parent company is investing in OKX at a cost of $25 billion. Intercontinental Exchange, the behemoth behind the New York Stock Exchange, has acquired a minority stake in the popular cryptocurrency trading platform, OKX. That puts the latest valuation at an impressive $25 billion after the latest investment round.

Ray Dalio debunks the Bitcoin myth and rejects comparisons to gold. Despite BTC’s better performance since the rise in tensions in the Middle East, billionaire Ray Dalio dismissed its potential to serve as a safe haven and once again praised gold.

$1 billion flood returns to crypto funds, ending five-week hemorrhage of $4 billion. The previous business week triggered a five-week red streak in which investors pulled nearly $4 billion from crypto-related funds. Instead, they poured in nearly $1 billion in five business days.

Justin Sun is ‘very happy’ about the $10 million SEC settlement. Nearly three years after he and some of his companies were sued by the US SEC, Justin Sun has announced that the claims have been dismissed after reaching a $20 million settlement with the regulator.